Simran Lal
Bodhgaya is a deeply sacred place. I was sitting under the famous Bodhi tree this morning – right across from where the Buddha sat and gained enlightenment.
Despite so many pilgrims from around the world circumambulating it, this place exudes deep peaceful energy.
This is my third time in Bodhgaya and I feel very blessed to be called here regularly. It is a place that somehow feels familiar. The energy of thousands of years of this area being worshipped is very palpable.
There is something about this land – I feel it every time I am here. It is the mothership of the mothership – that’s the way I can explain it. Historically we know that it was by far the richest land not just economically but also culturally and spiritually, perhaps in the whole world. It is here that some of the greatest emperors ruled and is the land that the Buddha traversed as did Mahavira, Guru Gobind Singh and so many other great scholars, gurus and saints.
Pataliputra, an ancient city was one of the most spectacular and largest capital cities of the ancient world enclosed by a wooden wall pierced by 570 towers and 64 gates.
Nalanda, Vikramsila – some of the all-time greatest, oldest and most respected universities in the ancient world are in this area.
This region has layers and layers of rich history to be uncovered, absorbed and take inspiration from.
Despite its really sorry state today, you can feel the ancient, magical essence of Bihar (comes from vihar – which means a place of dwelling – for monks) in the soil, in its landscape, in its hills, rivers and trees.
As I entered the grounds of Nalanda, I got goosebumps and I had a strong feeling I had been here before. Most likely (and hopefully) in its heydays from the 5th century CE till around 1200 CE.
An ancient centre of learning and one of the oldest and greatest universities in the world, Nalanda attracted thousands of students and teachers from all over the world for whom it was an absolute privilege to be part of it.
Hiuen Tsang, the famous Chinese Buddhist and scholar who studied and taught at Nalanda for 5 years describes it thus: “The entire establishment is enclosed by a brick wall. One gate opens into the great college, from which are separated eight other halls standing in the middle. The richly adorned towers, and the fairy-like turrets, like pointed hill-tops, are congregated together. The observatories seem to be lost in the vapours (of the morning), and the upper rooms tower above the clouds.”
It had lush gardens, lakes full of water lilies, many temples and one of the biggest multi-storeyed libraries in the world – three library buildings and one of them nine stories high housing nine million manuscripts. My dream place! Yes, I am sure I was there.
As I stood there on that sacred ground, surrounded by fine brickwork mounds, I was transported into another world.
One in which I was studying the scriptures, philosophy, the various arts including archery, astronomy… magical. And yes, women also studied at Nalanda.
I walk down the narrow brick corridors imagining this grand place in its heydays buzzing with thousands of learned teachers and around 10,000 scholars. And while today we look to the West for superior education centres, this ancient learning centre tells us that this was the land where everyone wanted to come to learn and immerse themselves in deep knowledge and culture.